Hawa Mahal Palace

Address: Hawa Mahal, Hawa Mahal Rd, City Palace area, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India

Hours: Daily 9:00am-4:30pm (museum hours)

Hawa Mahal is a pink sandstone palace façade located in the old city of Jaipur, Rajasthan, built in 1799. It is a five-storey structure famous for its richly perforated front elevation of small windows and balconies.

The intricate façade with hundreds of tiny windows and latticework is the primary attraction, photographed from the street and from nearby terraces. The structure was designed to provide ventilation and views of processions while preserving royal seclusion.

A small interior museum and a series of narrow passages and viewing galleries behind the façade can be explored, offering different perspectives on the façade and the surrounding City Palace area. The structure is emblematic of Jaipur’s late 18th-century Rajput architecture.

Commissioned by Maharaja Sawai Pratap Singh in 1799 and attributed to architect Lal Chand Ustad, the building formed part of the City Palace complex and the royal urban fabric of Jaipur. It has been maintained as a civic landmark and museum since the colonial period.

Hawa Mahal stands on the eastern edge of the old city of Jaipur, close to the City Palace and Jantar Mantar observatory, in the heart of Jaipur’s historic district.

• Façade detail: The distinctive perforated façade was designed to allow the royal women to observe street life while remaining unseen, and contains 953 small windows or jharokhas.

Hawa Mahal sits in the old city (Pink City) of Jaipur on Hawa Mahal Road near City Palace and J.D. Marg. It is within Jaipur’s historic centre, about 3 km from Jaipur Railway Station (a 10-15 minute drive) and easily reached on foot, by cycle rickshaw, auto or local bus from nearby bazaars; from Delhi it is roughly 250-280 km via NH48 (about 4-5 hours by car).

• Visit around sunrise or early morning when the façade is softer and the street in front is less crowded; the best framed photos come from across the square or from nearby rooftop cafés.
• For the classic vantage point, head to one of the small rooftop terraces in the market blocks opposite Hawa Mahal rather than the street level; many visitors don't realize those cafés offer unobstructed views of the honeycomb façade.
• Combine your visit with a quick walk through the adjacent City Palace/Johari Bazaar lanes-tour groups often skip the nearby lanes where you can see the palace side elevations and quieter palace gates.